Road Rights and Bicycle Advocacy

When the Cop Says Stop

What do you do when you know your area's bike laws, but the police don't?

bob mionske

Now, this is where it gets a little complicated. In West Virginia, as in many states, the law unequivocally states that, "Every person riding a bicycle upon a roadway shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle...." But in Ohio, there is no similar declaration of a cyclist's rights. Ohio law does define a bicycle as a vehicle, however, and so a cyclist has all the rights applicable to other vehicle operators, even if the law doesn't specifically say so. In other words, Tony and Ryan DID have as much right to be in the road as the Deputy, even if it's not explicitly spelled out in the law.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that under Ohio law the two cyclists had a legal right to the road, Tony and Ryan both claim that the Deputy responded to Tony's assertion of that right by yelling "'Get off the f-king road' several times." Months later, at the hearing, when asked whether he had used profanity during his encounter with the cyclists, the Deputy replied "possibly."

Both Tony and Ryan claim that the Deputy then attempted to force them off the road with his cruiser; As Ryan recalls:

"He was trying to force us off the road with his car, but there was nowhere for us to go. The shoulder was just gravel, and dropped off into a ditch."

Both Tony and Ryan say that to keep from being run off the road, Tony quickly pulled ahead while Ryan braked and fell in behind the cruiser. Ryan says that once he was behind the cruiser, the Deputy slammed on his brakes, but Ryan evaded the imminent crash by riding around the cruiser. As Ryan cleared the cruiser, he says the Deputy opened his door and attempted to body-check him, but missed. Ryan caught up with Tony but, significantly, Tony says that Ryan didn't tell him what had just happened; unaware of what had just transpired, Tony continued riding, with Ryan following behind him. Having failed to run the two cyclists off the road, the Deputy got back in his car, and raced ahead.